Setting up Bitcoin in Iceland, To use More Energy in Mining Bitcoin

Setting up Bitcoin in Iceland, To use More Energy in Mining Bitcoin.
Iceland is expected to use more energy mining bitcoin than to power its homes this year. It was reported on Monday, Feb. 12. The naturally cold climate and access to renewable energy are listed as the primary reasons for the influx of crypto mining companies to the Nordic island nation.

Johann Snorri Sigurbergsson, director of business development at energy company Hitaveita Sudurnesja, said he expects Iceland’s virtual currency mining to double its energy consumption to around 100 megawatts this year. That’s more than 340,000, according to the National Energy Authority of Iceland.

Sigurbergsson told the AP that he “could not predict this trend” four months ago, “but then Bitcoin skyrocketed.” He reports that he has a mining company that wants to buy 18 megawatts.

Among the main attractions of setting up bitcoin in Iceland is the natural cooling for the computer servers and the competitive prices for Iceland’s abundance of renewable energy. The demand for energy has been developed because of the increasing cost of producing virtual currencies. Computers are used to make a lot of money in the world.

In the US, when mining companies began moving in masses to Washington to take advantage of the state’s cheaper electricity, the data infrastructure of one small county became quickly overloaded and now requires an addition of 100 megawatts.

The growth has prompted Smari McCarthy, a lawmaker for Iceland’s Pirate Party, to suggest taxing the profits of bitcoin mines. ‘Under normal circumstances, companies that are creating value in Iceland pay a certain amount of tax to the government,’ McCarthy said.

‘These companies are not doing that and we might want to ask ourselves whether they should.’ McCarthy questioned the value of bitcoin mining for Icelandic society, saying residents should consider regulating and taxing the emerging industry. ‘We are spending tens or maybe hundreds of megawatts on producing something that has no tangible existence and no real use for humans outside the realm of financial speculation,’ he said. ‘That can’t be good

In December 2016, when Iceland was rallying to form an alternative coalition that included the Pirate Party after inconclusive election results, the Pirate Party’s founder referred to their platform as the most “favorable” for Bitcoin’s path to legality in the country.